


The Hydrangeas

by starryrosez



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Fluff, M/M, Side Pairing: Plance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 21:55:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14387910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryrosez/pseuds/starryrosez
Summary: There's a hot guy who works at the local flower shop in Keith's town who he is trying to get the courage to talk to.





	The Hydrangeas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astraldefender](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraldefender/gifts).



> Written for the [Voltron Ship Exchange](https://vldshipexchange.tumblr.com/)

There’s no reason Keith should be at a flower shop at this time of day. The shop empty except for an old lady checking out the garden tools, he’s starting to get an allergic reaction from all the pollen, and when he isn’t even going to be buying anything. There should be no reason for him to have come here--except, there  _ is _ . 

 

The hot guy who works behind the counter in the afternoon is worth the visit. Sure, Keith may not care about flowers too much, but boy he sure does care about those biceps. Yes, he totally has the hots for the worker, but can you blame him? 

 

All he knows about the hot flower shop guy is that a) he should be a model b) his name is Shiro c) he’s a senior at the same college Keith goes to d) he’s really hot and finally e) he’s friendly- or at least he  _ seems _ friendly while on the clock. 

 

The thing is, Keith hasn’t had a chance to talk to him yet. His anxiety gets the best of him whenever he gets too close, and when he finally gathers to courage to say something, he’s cut off by a customer or one of Shiro’s coworkers. As fate would have it, he’s just not meant to hold a conversation with Shiro. At least, for the moment. 

 

Maybe today will be Keith’s lucky day. After all, the only other person in the shop is the old lady, who seems too preoccupied with her garden tools to be bugging Shiro anytime soon. And Shiro’s co-worker, Katie, isn’t around either. Which is good, because if Katie were on the clock that would mean Lance would be here too, and  _ he’s _ the reason Keith is in this mess.

 

Keith had just returned from class, expecting to have some time to work on his paper, when Lance suddenly burst into the room.

 

“Good, you’re here,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s wrist. “C’mon, we gotta go.” 

 

“What the hell?” Keith asked as he was dragged out of their dorm. “Where are we going?”

 

“The flower shop off of Main Street,” Lance answered. 

 

“...Why…?”

 

“You’ll see.” Lance winked.

 

Keith frowned. “This is about a girl, isn’t it?”

 

Lance’s face reddened. “What? What makes you think that?” 

“Because it’s always about a girl,” Keith said.

 

“Fair, okay, you’re right, it is a girl. Her name is Katie, she’s really cute and she works at the flower shop.” 

 

Keith sighed, exasperated. “And you’re dragging me there with you because…?”

 

“...Moral support?”

 

Keith sighed even louder.  _ Great. _

 

“Please?”

 

“Well, I’m here already.”

 

As soon as they arrived at the flower shop, Lance left Keith alone and trailed over to the counter to talk to the ‘girl of his dreams.’ That left Keith with nothing to do but stand in the corner of the shop, staring at flower pots. Keith crossed his arms as he leaned against the shelves. The smell of soil was overwhelming, it only took a few seconds for Keith to realize he was leaning against the shelves with all the bags of soil. Scowling, he stepped away from the shelves.

 

He couldn’t believe he had been cajoled into one of Lance’s schemes again. Only this time it was utterly boring, with no risk or adventure. He couldn’t believe he was admitting to it, but he missed the time Lance dragged him to a club and left him to fend for himself. And that was an awful experience.

 

Keith sighed even more deeply when he realized that there was absolutely no point in him being there, and that he should probably just go before it gets worse. He began to head out of the shop when he suddenly crashed into somebody. A pot of flowers crashed onto the floor and spilled by Keith’s feet. The person he ran into grabbed his shoulder, holding Keith away from their body and preventing him from falling forward. 

 

“Are you alright?” the stranger asked. 

 

Keith looked up and met the eyes of the most handsome man he'd ever seen. He had a few good inches over Keith and was muscular, yet had the sweetest smile to ever grace this earth. His black hair was swept to the side and even the few strands sticking up didn’t stop him from looking like an angel. Keith instantly fell in love. 

 

“Sir?” the man repeated. Keith noticed that he was wearing a white apron and a name tag that said “Takashi.” “Everything alright?”

 

Keith flushed, realizing he’d been staring, and looked down, mumbling something random before pushing past the hot worker and running out of the shop. 

 

_ Fuck fuck fuck. _ His anxiety had gotten the best of him. He didn’t even apologize before panicking and running away. Keith couldn’t bring himself to re-enter the flower shop. Instead, he sat down on the bench outside and waited for Lance to appear. When Lance finally came out, he was smiling to himself, obviously happy with his time with the girl he was interested in. 

 

When Lance’s eyes landed on Keith, he smiled. “Ah, there you are! Glad to know you didn’t abandon me.” Lance winked as he elbowed Keith’s side.

 

Keith scowled. “Can we just go already?”

 

“What? You’re not even going to ask me how it went?”

 

“Nope.” Keith stood up and began to walk away from the shop.

 

“Well, it went fine, thank you,” Lance said, following Keith. “I think Katie likes me back.”

 

“Hmmph.”

 

“Okay, you seem more pissed off than usual,” Lance pointed out. “Did something happen?”

 

“That’s none of your concern,” Keith snapped as he continued walking down the street.

 

“Oh, something  _ definitely  _ happened.” Lance chuckled. “What happened? Did you see somebody attractive and leave in a panic?”

 

“N-no,” Keith’s response sounded weary, even to himself.

 

“So it  _ was _ somebody! Who? Was it Shiro? Katie’s coworker, who’s really tall and charismatic?”

 

Keith stopped and turned to Lance, angrily meeting his teasing blue eyes. “I said, it’s not your business!”

 

Lance only smiled in response. “You poor thing, you really like him, don’t you?” He grabbed Keith’s hand. “C’mon, I’ll introduce the two of you — ”

 

“No,” Keith responded as he wiggled out of Lance’s hand, “I’m not going back there.”

 

“What do you mean? Don’t you want to get to know him? If you’re too nervous to talk him, don’t worry, I’ll be right there — ”

 

“I don’t want to go back,” Keith snapped, flushing as he recalled what had happened. “It’s too embarrassing.”

 

Lance looked taken aback, surprise mixed with a bit of irritation, but he sighed, “Okay.”

 

And just like that, he began to walk back towards the direction of their dorm. Keith stared at the back of Lance’s head for a few seconds, wondering why Lance had suddenly let it go, before deciding that it didn’t matter and following suit. 

 

A week later, Keith went to the bank to deposit a paycheck. On his way back he passed by the flower shop. Keith stopped to look into the shop, wondering if he could just catch a glimpse of Shiro again. Despite the embarrassing encounter, Keith couldn’t stop thinking about him. Keith leaned against the glass and peered inside, and sure enough, Shiro was there. Right in front of him. Staring right back. 

 

He had clearly been reorganizing the garden gnomes on display, but now he looked more interested in Keith, a forgotten tiny red gnome with a red apron that read, “Kiss the Cook” in his hand. Keith flushed as he looked away. What should he do? Should he run away? The man probably already thought he was weird, it wouldn’t be strange if he ran off again, right?

 

For some reason, Keith turned to the door and swung it open, entering the shop. Shiro turned to face him, his eyes wide. Keith turned away and headed in the direction of the cashier before making a right and stopping there. 

 

He leaned over to make sure Shiro wasn’t looking before he let a huge sigh escape. Why did he do that? He didn’t know.  After some time, he decided to step in, and now he was just standing there, awkwardly and blatantly checking out the worker. He spent another hour in there, sitting on a bench by a row of birdhouses and watching Shiro work before leaving. 

 

Ever since Keith has returned daily. Never saying anything nor buying a single item in the shop. He just watches Shiro, tracking every movement he makes, observing as he interacts with his coworkers and customers. Sometimes Keith has a moment of bravery and approaches Shiro to introduce himself, but he’s always interrupted by a customer or whatever else could get thrown between them. 

 

But today will be different. Keith feels it in his bones. He’s going to introduce himself to Shiro and the two will get to know each other — perhaps they could even start dating after a while…

 

At the moment Shiro is sitting at the cash register, a book in his hands as he waits for the old lady to decide what to buy. It seems like Shiro is the only person working at the moment because Keith has yet to see Lance’s girlfriend or any of the other employees he’s seen around. 

 

It’s now or never. There’s nobody around and Shiro isn’t preoccupied. Keith approaches the register, and Shiro looks up from his book with a smile. Keith smiles back but finds himself already starting to panic. What if he messes up? What if Shiro already finds him weird? He’s got to find him weird after all this borderline stalkerish stuff. And even if Shiro and Keith manage to become friends, how does Keith know Shiro would be interested in him?

 

_ Stop _ , Keith tells himself.  _ Just say hi. _ He takes a deep breath, and Shiro nods as if encouraging Keith to speak. 

 

“Hi, I’m Ke — ”

 

“Excuse me, sir, can you take this box down for me? You’re so young and strong while I’m,” the old lady lifts her wrinkly arms with a sheepish smile, “I don’t have the strength I used to when I was younger.”

 

“Of course ma'am,” Shiro replies, setting the book down on the counter and going to help the lady. 

 

Keith blushes and finds himself panicking even more. Should he stay? Should he wait? Or should he just go? Keith turns away from the counter and heads towards the flower pots. They’re beautiful. The flowers are in groups so closely knit together they resembled spheres. Keith examines one and curiously strokes the leaves of the flower. He isn’t very good with flowers, he only knows the basics like dandelion, sunflowers, and tulips. He wishes he knew what this one is called.

 

“Hydrangeas.”

 

Keith blinks. “What?”

 

“That’s what they’re called, hydrangeas.” Keith turns around to find Shiro standing behind him. Keith’s eyes widen and finds himself unable to speak as Shiro crouches down next to Keith and lovingly strokes a leaf. “They’re beautiful, right?”

 

“Yes,” Keith replies.

 

“They’re a nice plant to have around a garden.” Shiro smiles. “When I buy my first home, I’m planting these at the entrance.” He says it as if he’s already there, his eyes sparkling as he talks. He turns to Keith, giving him a warm smile, and holds out his hand. “By the way, I’m Takashi, but you can call me Shiro. It’s what everybody calls me.”

 

Keith takes the hand, his heart pounding wildly. “Keith.”

 

Shiro smiles. “Ah, Keith, so that’s the name of my favorite customer.”

 

Keith blushes. “I don’t even buy anything…” 

 

Shiro winks as he gets up. “Well, I have to get back to the register,” he points towards the counter where the lady is waiting, “but it was nice to talk to you.”

 

Keith nods his heartbeat racing, “Y-yeah, same here.”

 

“Hey, my shift ends in about an hour, actually. Would you like to go out and get lunch with me?” Shiro asks.

 

Keith's eyes widen. Is Shiro asking him out on a date? Or is he just looking for company? Keith suddenly feels like he’s floating as he excitedly bobs his head up and down.

 

“Okay, cool.” Shiro smiles. “I’ll see you at the Panera down the street in an hour, then…?”

 

“Yeah,” Keith agrees.

 

“Cool.”

 

“Cool.”

 

The two of them stare at each other for a couple of seconds. Keith can’t believe this went so well. His heart is pounding so hard he’s surprised Shiro hasn’t noticed.

 

Shiro takes Keith’s hand and kisses it. “Later.” He winks playfully before returning to work. 

 

Keith stands still for a couple of seconds, processing what had just happened. Did he just talk with Shiro? Did Shiro really ask him out? Did he actually kiss his hand just now? Or is this all a fragment of Keith’s imagination.

 

Keith looks at Shiro, who is attending the lady purchasing her garden tools. It looks like nothing has happened like everything is completely normal. And then Keith catches Shiro glancing up and he smiles. Keith smiles back. Okay, maybe this is all real. And everything is going to be fine

**Author's Note:**

> Come and talk to me on [tumblr!](https://rosiekeith.tumblr.com/)   
> Comments are always appreciated! <3


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